Knock Knock – Damian Kingsley

I was interested in seeing Damian Kingsley’s show, Knock Knock (Bar 50 15:30), because I’ve heard a lot about his charity work. He has travelled from Lands End to Edinburgh, performing gigs all of the way, to raise money for the Homeless. Despite knowing many people who have supported him at these shows, none had been convenient for me to see, so I was in the position of having heard all about his show, but not having the faintest idea as to the content.

It began with a short video playing once everyone was seated, including the corporate ladies who had to sit on the floor at the front as he ran out of chairs. Unfortunately the acoustics weren’t great and so it wasn’t easy to hear all of the words of this video, but the general tone could be made out, which was useful.

Kinglsey, who is a relaxed and genial comic, started with a bit of room work, asking the usual questions and bouncing back from the answers. This included some nice lines about previous gigs, such as the philosophy student. He then explained the premise of his show, which sounded bleak. However, rather than dwelling upon his misfortune and the worst of the effects of this, he gave us a congenial show full of anecdotes and stories. These were of a good standard; the delayed laughter in response to the Tennents line showed who was fully awake and who had to think a bit more about the reference, the email from a friend was fun and although loyalty card went over a few peoples’ heads at first, this was another good line.

I wasn’t that keen on Kingsley pointing out his dodgy childhood haircut on an old photo, as this felt a bit pedestrian and is done with almost any photo more than ten years old. I was very interested in his material on relationships being like a computer game and I feel that he could have developed this more, as there is a lot of mileage in this notion. The highlight was his big finale, which was the tale of his ex, his father and the stone that went in her ring. This was a splendid story that drew everyone in and made for a satisfying climax to the show. Although there weren’t a lot of huge laughs, this was a show where there was regular laughter and it made for a consistently amiable and pleasant hour.